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you were lied to. he/she promised it was monogamous. you choose to believe them, for your own reasons. you chose to have unprotected sex. now you're positive, and looking for someone to blame. look in the mirror. forgive yourself, so that you can live with this without hating yourself or your fellow pozzies.

you were lied to. he/she promised it was monogamous. you choose to believe them, for your own reasons. you chose to have unprotected sex. now you're positive, and looking for someone to blame. look in the mirror. forgive yourself, so that you can live with this without hating yourself or your fellow pozzies.

you were lied to. he/she promised it was monogamous. you choose to believe them, for your own reasons. you chose to have unprotected sex. now you're positive, and looking for someone to blame. look in the mirror. forgive yourself, so that you can live with this without hating yourself or your fellow pozzies.

You are responsible for opening the door to a risk of infection. But so did many others who did not become infected.

The virus is responsible for the infection. You are only responsible for the risk.

You probably didn't realize how bad the consequences of bad luck would be when you took the risk. Now you know and you can help educate the uninfected that this is a risk they want to be particularly careful about.

But life is full of risks ...

You are not a bad person because you took a decision without fully understanding the risks. You are just ...human.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

I take full responsibility for my infection. It was my decision to fuck around without a condom. I always asked the guys if they were "safe" or "clean" and I believed they were telling me the truth when they told me they were negative or "d&d free". Obviously, someone wasnt telling the truth. Do I hate them? Am I mad with them.? Truth is, I can't harbor any ill feelings toward the "person" who infected me. I played a part in that infection by not protecting myself against not only HIV, but other STD's as well. I kind of almost have the mentality that I infected myself. Obviously, I didnt do it on purpose, but, I took the gamble when I decided to screw without condoms.

yep well said jb. thats pretty much the way i felt since the minute i first found out. it was like oh fuck man, i just fucked my life up. but i never was like who did this to me I'm gonna kill them. no one did this to me. every time i did it without a rubber i knew the risk. every time. i take full responsibility for my issue. but i don't hate myself either. hell I'm human and i did what millions of other uninfected people did and that was have unprotected sex, i just got burned.

Exactly. I dont hate myself either.....well not anymore....lol. Seriously, it was a little rough at the beginning, but, once i got over the inital shock and was able to think clearly, I realized that I really couldnt "blame" anyone but myself...........

I take full responsibility for my infection. It was my decision to fuck around without a condom. I always asked the guys if they were "safe" or "clean" and I believed they were telling me the truth when they told me they were negative or "d&d free". Obviously, someone wasnt telling the truth. Do I hate them? Am I mad with them.? Truth is, I can't harbor any ill feelings toward the "person" who infected me. I played a part in that infection by not protecting myself against not only HIV, but other STD's as well. I kind of almost have the mentality that I infected myself. Obviously, I didnt do it on purpose, but, I took the gamble when I decided to screw without condoms.

That is exactly how I feel about my situation. In some way I found it much more easy to accept this new situation and come to terms with it, knowing that this was my own fault. I knew the risks and now I have to deal with the consequences of my actions. Seems fair enough.If I was an 'innocent victim' I'd probably be angry and keep wondering why the world is conspiring against me.

My earlest memory off a preventative message that really made sense to me emphasised that each individual was responsible for what went onto him or her.

Taking that fully on board it meant nobody could infect me only I could let it happen.

Due to illness / recovery I lost touch with gay sex life,from a period 92-95 .In the period Around 1990 My experience was ,condons where everywhere,boxer shorts had pouches designed for condon,s ditto Wallets , instead off Brando style cigarette packets rolled up in a white T shirt sleeve I'd see a pack off condons, v high turn on that one the message was assume everyone is positive .All Bars had free condons and lube packs. Then when my libido returned and I I learnt a new term "Barebacking" and I can still remember it was a profound shock. I was reeling with shock ,some how in that period my sense that the message was getting out there,and central to that message was you where responsible for what went into you. And the ? are you positive was redundant because everyone could be. had become diluted, and sometimes it felt like it was even under attack .

Now I realize that the money spent on the new drugs sucked up the prevention budjets. But I do not think that is the only reason , some how AIDS was now last year,not part off the new generations future and being responsible had somehow lost something.

But for a period I remember a solid sense off you where responsible for what went in you, and therefore there was not the ? off who was responsible. You where because it was yours in the first place.mhtv

« Last Edit: January 31, 2012, 05:37:48 AM by Theyer »

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"If we can find the money to kill people, we can find the money to help people ." Tony Benn

Why? Did God remove the condom -literally behind your back - when he shagged you? You're normally quite sage, but this comment has me stumped. I can only hope you said it in jest. (Shirley, you jest!)

Ann, Well, yeah it was sorta in jest but it's also a sort of personal coping mechanism. While I take full responsibly for what happened I don't like to feel culpable about it because it just gets me down. So in that light, I like to blame (if anyone can be blamed) God/ Destiny whatever- but not in that I received my comeuppance for my devious ways or something, but in that what happened was predestined and i can't change it. I mean if this were 1855, I could have barebacked like crazy without worrying about HIV, right ? . Well they had the Plague, small pox and other nasties instead.

That said, to my mind I always thought/ assumed I was safe (except with my ex who tested negative and whose results I've seen so I know it wasn't him) and don't know for certain how or when I got infected (i.e. the precise date and the person). I had ranted about it in a thread (sometimes accidents do happen. why is it so hard to accept?) last May. http://forums.poz.com/index.php?topic=38024.msg474635#msg474635. I was quite bitter in those months but that has since abated.

I do know I was infected sometime in late 2005 or early 2006 though, cos I distinctly remember my seroconversion with painful lymph nodes in my underarms, etc, plus I've had irritable bowels, skin problems etc since around that time, plus I know I had some drunk encounters in that period which I thought were safe(obviously they all weren't ) and are now beyond hazy.

So yes, I take full responsibility for what happened, but since I don't recall the unsafe experience- not that I'm saying it didn't happen (it obviously did somewhere, otherwise I wouldn't be here)- I don't like to blame myself for it but I do hold myself accountable and have never pointed fingers at anyone else. Except God/ Destiny. It's just my way of making peace with it, I guess.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

You know, I had heard about that thread but hadn't checked it out. It seems like a perfectly valuable use of my time!

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"Many people, especially in the gay community, turn to oral sex as a safer alternative in the age of AIDS. And with HIV rates rising, people need to remember that oral sex is safer sex. It's a reasonable alternative."